Photographic easel



March 1953 w. w. DE BROUWER 2,633,058

PHOTOGRAPHIC EASEL Fild Sept. 19, 1950 INVENTOR. [Halfer [(7 365101.: war

Patented Mar. 31, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PHO TUGRAPHTC E A SEL Walter W. De Brouwer, "Modesto, Calif.

Application September 19, 1956, Serial No; 185,581

1 Claim.

This invention relates generally to improvements in photographic easels.

Especially for portraits produced by projection from a photographic enlarger, it is often desired that the resultant print be borderless; i. e. that the print extend fully to the edges of the photographic sheet without any border mark caused by sheet hold-down elements of the easel. Such borderless prints are advantageous not only because of their attractive appearance, but further they require no time-consuming trimming preparatory to mounting.

It is therefore the major object of this invention to provide a novel photographic easel for use in the production of borderless projection prints.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an easel, as above, wherein the sheet of photographic paper is held down flat on a base by means of a novel assembly of beveled end rails; the assembly being such that the end rails hold the sheet of photographic paper flat on the base, while permitting of full borderless printing of said sheet.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a photographic easel designed for ease and economy of manufacture, and convenience of use.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a practical and effective photographic easel, and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claim.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the improved photographic easel.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of the photographic easel as in use.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the photographic easel comprises a fiat base plate I, preferably of metal, supported at opposite ends by downturned flanges 2 having feet 3 which proj ect outwardly from their lower edges.

* Along one side thereof the flat base plate I is fitted, full length, with a fixed, paper-stop side rail 4.

At one end thereof the flat base plate I is fitted with a normally fixed paper hold-down end rail 5 secured to said base plate by wing nuts and bolts 6. A fixed-distance adjustment of the end rail 5 can be made by removing the wing nuts and bolts 6 and then employing them to 2 secure said end rail '5 in an inward 'pos'ition for which bolt receiving holes I are provided;

In opposed but parallel relation to the end rail 5 the easel includes an adjustable, paper hold-down end rail 3 spaced some distance from said rail 5 and adjustable along the base plate I by means of wing nuts and bolts 9 which extend through parallel slots III to normally hold the end rail 8 in a fixed position of adjustment.

The adjacent faces II of the end rails 5 and 8 are beveled downwardly from their upper edge and in a direction so that the included angle between each of said bevel faces and th adjacent portion of the flat base I is less than 90, preferably approximately but greater than the angle of projection-as indicated by the lines I2from the enlarger I3.

In use of the above described photographic easel the paper hold-down end rails 5 and 8 are set with the spacing therebetween-calculated from the lower edges of the bevel faces I I- equal to the length of the sheet I4 of photographic paper upon which the borderless print is to be made.

The sheet I4 of photographic paper is always placed in the easel emulsion side uppermost, the sheet tending to curl upwardly at the ends.

The sheet is placed upon the flat base plate I with the corresponding edge abutting the side rail 4 as a stop, and the ends of said sheetby down-bowing the latter-are engaged against the related bevel faces II immediately adjacent the bottom edges of the latter in end-abutting but surface-unobstructed relation. The bevel of such faces then effectively prevents the sheet from curling upwardly at the ends, and said sheet is held fiat against the base plate I for projection of the borderless print thereon.

It is important that the included angle between the bevel faces I I and the adjacent portions of the flat base plate I be greater than the angle of projection, as represented by the lines I2, for the reason that the projection of the print must reach the edges of the sheet I4 at opposite ends without any obstruction by the end rails 5 and 8.

In addition to its effective use for the production of borderless prints by photographic projection, the easel is most convenient in use, as it permit of the quick placement or removal of the photographic sheets I4 without the manipulation of any mechanical part of the device once the latter has been adjusted to proper setting for sheet size.

The rails 4, 5, and 8 are painted or otherwise surfaced in mat black to avoid reflections.

ily seen that there has been produced such a photographic easel as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention, as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the photographic easel, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, the fo1- lowing is claimed as new and useful, and upon which Letters Patent are desired:

In a photographic easel, a flat base plate adapted to receive a sheet of photographic paper thereon for printing from an enlarger having a given angle of projection, opposed paper hold-down rails mounted on and upstanding from the base plate to a height greater than the thickness of a sheet for end-abutting engagement immediately adjacent said plate by corresponding ends of a sheet of paper disposed on the plate between the .4 rails, and mean mounting one rail for adjustment along the base plate whereby sheets of different sizes may be accommodated between and held by the rails; the latter having upstanding sides facing each other and formed so that the included angle between the inner face of each side and the adjacent face of the base plate is less than 90 degrees but greater than said given angle of projection, and overlying one edge of a sheet disposed between the rails.

WALTER W. DE BROUWER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,348,999 Peterson May 16, 1944 2,436,180 Reaney 1 Feb. 1'7, 1948 2,496,701 De Groff Feb. '7, 1950 

